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Meridian (and Voyager?) Door Seal

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whhistle

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On a Meridian (and I assume Voyager) when the train door closes, there is a gap on one side, the side opposite to the mechanism.

This is then sealed a few seconds after moving off.

Can anyone tell me what is happening here / why this is like it?
 
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Pumbaa

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Purely for comfort and to reduce noise/air flow. Train can still operate at line speed without it.

There is a seal (a bit like an inner tube of a bicycle where) which inflates and essentially fills the gap left between the door and the body, triggering at a few mph.

I always thought it was a nifty compromise against a fully recessed plug.
 
Doomotron

Doomotron

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urpert said:
While the 395s (and 80x I believe) have a roller mounted on a pivot which activated at ~5mph to push the door outward.
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On the 395, this only happens when the guard or driver opens the doors, but it does seal normally when accelerating. This is annoying because pressing the door button doesn't do anything after it lights up because of this (I wish it worked like in the 80x).
 
rebmcr

rebmcr

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LOL The Irony said:
If they went through all that effort, why didn't they just make them plug doors in the first place?
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Hitachi really insisted that the product should have the sliding doors they were already familiar with (from building JR stock). They are responsible for the reliability contract after all.
 
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edwin_m

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The Japanese version is I think primarily a seal to reduce the change in interior pressure when passing other trains at high speed, particularly in tunnel. Presumably it also eliminates the annoying door rattles that are such a feature of our 1970s and 1980s units with pocket doors. Hitachi did accept a plug door for the 380s - not sure if they've been noticeably more or less reliable.
 
urpert

urpert

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edwin_m said:
The Japanese version is I think primarily a seal to reduce the change in interior pressure when passing other trains at high speed, particularly in tunnel. Presumably it also eliminates the annoying door rattles that are such a feature of our 1970s and 1980s units with pocket doors. Hitachi did accept a plug door for the 380s - not sure if they've been noticeably more or less reliable.
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And given the 395s pass through single bore tunnels at up to 140mph you can see why they would want the same system!
 
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